This invention relates to the field of adjustable rip saws, of the type having a plurality of blades mounted on and driven by a common shaft and individually positionable axially on the shaft with respect to one another by respective saw adjusting collars located axially remote from the saw blades along the shaft. More particularly, in one aspect, this invention relates to an arrangement in a "semi-interleaved" nesting relationship of saw adjusting collars each respectively coupled to a saw hub to reduce the length of the shaft on which the collars and hubs are mounted. In another aspect, this invention relates to apparatus for adjusting backlash out of the positioning assemblies for such shaft mounted saws.
In the prior art it was known to "nest" respective pairs of saw adjusting collars and saw hubs as illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, three saws 12, 14, 16 are mounted on a shaft or arbor 18. Shaft 18 is journalled for rotation about axis 20 in a machine frame (not shown) by suitable bearings, one of which (21) is shown schematically. Shaft 18 carries saw hubs 22, 24, 26 each of which is keyed to shaft 18 for rotation therewith. It is to be understood that the keys in hubs 22, 24, 26 are free to move axially along shaft 18, while providing for a rotational driving relationship between the shaft and each hub. A saw adjusting collar 34 is preferably close coupled to hub 22 to enable positioning of saw 12 axially on shaft 18. A first remote saw adjusting collar 48 is mechanically coupled to hub 24 as indicated by connection 42, shown in simplified form. Similarly, a third saw adjusting collar 58 is coupled to saw hub 26 by a mechanical connection 54 (also shown in simplified form). It is to be understood that it has been found desirable in certain instances to have a fixed saw 56 mounted at the center line of the rip saw machine (not shown) and to provide for adjustability of saws 12, 14, 16 towards and away from the machine center line, as illustrated, for example, by the phantom position of saw 16 and hub 26 located adjacent saw 56. To accomplish this, saw adjusting collar 58 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that shown in phantom in FIG. 1. To permit such adjustability, it has been known to have a relatively long shaft or arbor 18, because the prior art utilized an "enclosing nesting" configuration. In an enclosing nesting configuration (as that term is used herein) the collar-hub pair 34, 22 is enclosed in a nesting relationship within collar-hub pair 48, 24 and those two collar-hub pairs are completely enclosed by (or trapped between) the collar-hub pair 58-26, all as illustrated in FIG. 1. Connection 42 is preferably sized to permit axial movement of saw 12 between collar 48 and hub 24, and connection 54 is preferably sized to permit movement of the enclosed saws 12, 14 and to permit movement of saw 16 over the range indicated between the solid and phantom positions shown. Such an arrangement requires an extremely long shaft 18 with consequent increase in expense, difficulty in manufacture and potential vibration problems.